UN statement to help DPRK nuclear talks

"This bodes well for the Six-Party Talks, in the way the wording stresses peace and security in Northeast Asia," said Baek Seung-joo of the state-affiliated Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul.

Diplomats at the UN said the draft statement circulated on Thursday by the United States condemned what it called an attack leading to the sinking of the Cheonan, which killed 46 ROK sailors. However, it stopped short of blaming the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The conclusion of a month-long diplomacy led by ROK and the US with a council president's statement will also likely mean the leveling off of tensions fuelled by threats of war on the Korean Peninsula.

The draft has been approved by the five permanent council members, including China. It was approved by all the 15 member states.

The ROK, Japan and the US already have sanctions in place aimed at punishing the DPRK after the sinking of the corvette and Seoul may impose more sanctions.

The DPRK denies it was involved in any way in the sinking, saying the accusation is a fabrication by the ROK aimed at politically damaging Pyongyang.

In a turnabout, the DPRK proposed on Friday to hold high-level military talks with the US on Tuesday to discuss the ship's sinking. Analysts have said the DPRK would eventually try to talk its way out of the stalemate.

At critical moments in the past, the DPRK always proposes direct talks with the US, said Huang Youfu, director of the Institute of Korean Studies at Beijing-based Central University for Nationalities.

Criticism from the international community, no matter how mild, is still a blow to the DPRK, whose economy is in a dire situation. The nation thinks the best way out is to talk directly with the US, Huang said.

But Huang said the US was unlikely to accept the DPRK proposal, at least not without the ROK's consent; Kazinform cites China Daily.

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